Stilts, a Beach Resort to Calm the Family Soul

Just a year ago, my mother-in-law was hospitalized after a heart seizure. It occurred after we had made the move from our home in Manila to a new home in Tagaytay City. Her emergency medical treatment meant that all our summer plans were put on hold indefinitely, but as a family, we all pulled together and somehow made it through the uncertainty and the stress of that trying time.

Lola's critical medical condition meant canceling our summer beach trip that year, as we stayed home close to her hospital. For our visiting German relatives, it was a huge letdown because the planned beach trip was a culminating family tradition that brought us all together one final time every year before they left for the silence and the frozen darkness of the German winter they lived and worked in.

Since the birth of our son, my wife and I had made it a point to travel throughout the Philippines every summer, exploring the country and bringing him and any one else willing to ride with us. Our retinue of cars soon began to look more like a train as more relatives and friends joined our summer adventure, and our family trips prospered with the addition of two new brothers-in-law. The final person to join us was Lola, my mother-in-law. We had a difficult time convincing her to come, but the sweltering heat and pollution of the Manila summer made the decision an easy one for her. In the early years, she was a real trooper, enduring long rides, bumpy roads and dusty villages for the sake of spending time with her daughters and their spouses. But as she aged, her illnesses became more apparent to us, and she remained at our home to wait for our arrival from some summer adventure, content to listen to our stories and view our pictures. She could not walk anymore and had to use a wheelchair just to leave her bedroom. Since our last move to the province from Manila, we had been blessed to find her a set of doctors and a caregiver for her needs. We had hoped that the cool air of the Tagaytay mountains would improve her health condition, but all of us were just happy that she looked and acted better after a year of treatment and rest.

This year, as planning began for our summer exodus, we all commented on Lola's fitness to travel. Just about everyone agreed that she should make the trip, and even her doctors said that she could. We checked with STILTS Resort and not only were they very supportive of wheelchair visitors, they even offered to carry Lola in her wheelchair to her cabin room and help make her special meals! My own worries about Lola quickly disappeared when we were met at the resort front parking lot by four eager young men who quickly brought Lola and all our luggage to our cabin. Suddenly, my concerns evaporated on that hot summer day, realizing that we wouldn't be alone and that we would have the support of others to make Lola's beach voyage as comfortable as possible.

After arriving at the Stilts Resort in Calatagan, Batangas , we made sure that Lola would had the amenities she would need for a comfortable stay. Her bedroom was prepared early for her arrival so she would not have to wait for a room in the heat of the day, and arrangements were set up for her schedule of meals; thanks to the supportive staff at the hotel, we were not let down. Both my wife and her two sisters were so happy to have brought their mom, one could almost feel the euphoria in the cabin, we had somehow succeeded in bringing everyone together after a year of stress and worries.

It was only after we had finally set our gear down in our rooms that we had a chance to relax and talk about the day's events. We all commented that this summer adventure had been worth the effort and the stress, not only because by doing so we had endeavored to include Lola in our journey, but because by coming with us we had elicited so much care, attention and assistance for her from others, we were overwhelmed by the response! It was truly an adventure for all of us, the kindness we received by strangers plus the beauty of the resort will be forever impressed into our hearts. Stilts will always be that one place for us, forever a mixture of Nature's beauty and the effervescent compassion that brings people together.